Downtown Dallas Transit Study

The Alternatives Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (AA/DEIS) portion of the D2 Study was completed on May 17, 2010 with the closing of the 45-day Comment Period on the DEIS. This concluded a 3-year study effort that began in May 2007 with the initial Public Scoping Meeting. Over the course of the Study, the Study Team met with four Advisory Committees, the DART Board of Directors, the Dallas City Council Transportation and Environment Committee, numerous individuals and organizations and the general public to receive input on the alternatives, evaluation process, and the analysis contained in the DEIS.

The comments, questions and suggestions submitted during the DEIS comment period have been documented in the Public Hearing Summary Report.

Traditionally, this is the point in the project development process where the DART Board of Directors considers all the comments, reviews the AA/DEIS technical findings and selects a Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA). Once an LPA is selected, it would advance into Preliminary Engineering (PE) to support preparation of the Final EIS. All comments received on the Draft EIS would be documented and addressed in this Final EIS.

However, several factors resulted in a postponement in selecting the LPA for D2, including:

The City of Dallas requested that DART reevaluate alternatives previously screened out in the D2 AA/DEIS in light of their Downtown Dallas 360 Plan, which designates focus areas for development.

The City, with technical support from DART, is advancing several streetcar projects, including a line from Union Station in Downtown to North Oak Cliff along the Houston St. Viaduct, partially funded by a $23 million Federal (TIGER1) grant. It will accommodate modern streetcars. Another project consists of a new connection between Uptown and Downtown Dallas that connects the M-line Olive Street extension to the current M-line track on St. Paul Street. It will provide a direct connection to DART's St. Paul Station. The M-line's heritage vehicle fleet will still be used. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is scheduled to receive $4.9 million from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) as part of the Urban Circulator Grant Program and will have a local match of $5 million from the North Central Texas Council of Governments. In addition, the City is initiating a Streetcar System Plan effort in late 2011. While prior streetcar planning was done during the D2 AA/DEIS, additional coordination is necessary to ensure compatibility between these efforts.

In addition to the above coordination issues that may affect an LPA decision, the economic recession has impacted DART revenue forecasts. As a result, the 20-year Financial Plan adopted by the DART Board of Directors on September 28, 2010 includes funding for continued planning for D2, but lacks funding for final design and construction prior to year 2030. While this will delay the project opening date, it does provide an opportunity to conduct additional analyses to support a future alignment decision and position the project for other funding sources.

In early 2011, DART was awarded $700,000 in Federal Funding with which to conduct additional alternatives analysis work. When the Study begins, DART will reinitiate meetings with stakeholders, other advisory committees and the general public to review new or refined alternatives and build support for a future LPA decision.